Taliban spokesman Mujahid said it had been easy to bring fighters into the capital, and they had had inside help to move heavy weapons into place.

ISAF Headquarters, German, British and Russian embassies were the prime targets of the well-coordinated sporadic attacks.

Blasts also occurred in Logar, Nangarhar and Paktia provinces of Afghanistan.

In the eastern province of Paktia, NATO helicopter gunships attacked insurgents holed up in a building next to a construction site while in the eastern city of Jalalabad, an eye witness said that Taliban attacked a foreign force base near a school.

Suicide bomber arrested

According to Afghan’s local media reports, one Taliban insurgent was killed, another blew himself up and a third was captured. A blast also went off near the airport in Jalalabad, a witness said.
As a precautionary measure, US embassy in Kabul has been locked down.

There have been no reports of casualties so far but at least one Afghan soldier is reported to have been hurt during attacks.

‘Afghan Parliament attacked’

According to the local residents, a rocket was fired upon Afghan Parliament.

Attackers also fired a rocket-propelled grenade into a house used by British diplomats in the city centre, an eyewitness said.

At least seven explosions were heard in Central Kabul.

Pak hand involved?

While talking to a news channel, Afghan’s interior ministry spokesperson, Sediq Sediqi said, “It’s a combined effort by Haqqani network and other terrorists.” He also hinted at Pakistan’s hand for carrying out attacks.

It was the first attack in Kabul since a shooting inside the Interior Ministry in February in which a ministry employee turned a gun on NATO advisers and shot two soldiers dead.